Why the eye is better than a camera at capturing contrast and faint detail simultaneously
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 - 18:30
in Physics & Chemistry
The discovery nearly 50 years ago of lateral inhibition -- that the cones in the eye inhibit their neighbors by way of negative feedback -- explained the keen edge detail we see, but never accounted for the fact that we can see faint detail near these edges and in the shadows. Neurobiologists have discovered positive feedback among the cones that completes the picture.
